Thank you for saying that, George. *All* commer(de)cial modern “popular” music is in the same boat with it though, IMO. It destroys and deunifies cultures, but paradoxically attempts to force conformity on such superficial grounds as “cool”. Long live traditional music! The “evergreens” are the best-always have been, always will be.

Scratch that… just figured it out. Went to his website and was kind of disappointed (by kind of I mean a lot)… it’s a shame that Orishas – seemingly the only people in Latin American rap who like to at least dress and present themselves like they’re normal human beings – take the political stances they do.

First, this is not rap, is reggaeton; if you are not able to distinguish, how can you pretend to know something of music?

Second, you missed the point, you are talking about the “container” instead of the “content”: did you noticed the words? or maybe you don’t read spanish? WAKE-UP! IS A ANTICASTRO THING, THE ONLY IN CIRCULATION! The SONG #1 in latino charts, the message is roaring, the people dance and sing it, and spread the message: who care if you are so stiff?

Third, so stiff, so distant; would you like communicate with young people? understand and learn how they do, pay respect to him, then you can comment and judge: reggaeton is the most popular genre in Cuba today, and probably the most efficient way, (along with rap)to circulate protest.

And finally…..not a word about people doing “something” to express his frustration for being ostracised from his country; are you doing something more useful than this? Did you visited the Rey’s site, ok, maybe you missed to “listen”, “listen” i mean, what he says in songs like “CHIVATO” or the video or “SI SUPIERAS”.

Madonna, mai incontrata gente simile… Chi diavolo siete, an’do abbitate? Siete fuori come un terrazzino!
(Translation from roman dialect: gosh, never meet people like that; who the hell you are, do where you live? you are out like a balconade!)
with simpathy

It’s great that the song spreads the message. My point about the “container” is that when the container looks like a joke, the message is only recieved by those who were seeking it out in the first place. If I had come across this guy’s site not knowing whho he was or what the lyrics were about, I would write him off as another reggaeton artist who talks on and on without saying anything.

The “container” is what determines whether the message gets to those that it needs to get to – especially in the case of audiences who do not speak spanish. Orishas present themselves as Cuband who happen to have adopted an American urban genre – not like so many others who are from Latin America and convince themselves that they have the same life experiences or culture as American rappers just because they’ve adopted the genre.

You’re right, this is more reggaeton than rap… but not reggaton in its purest form. There are parts where it leans more to the rap side.

Thanks, Asha. I’m too old to be a rap fan but I know that rap reaches the young and the poor and the black and if they like that and it makes them think, and it gives them the truth about a real tyrant, I am all for it. Anticastro rap is a good thing, you sure as heck know that castro doesn’t like it. He probably doesn’t like rap anyway.